• Open de Espana, Round Three

Emotional Olazabal battles on in Spain

Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros formed a formidable duo at the Ryder Cup © Getty Images

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Seve Ballesteros - a life in pictures

Jose Maria Olazabal defied personal heartbreak to complete his third round at the Open de Espana on a day clouded with sadness following the death of Seve Ballesteros, who lost his battle with cancer overnight.

Olazabal was reportedly in tears and unable to speak at the conclusion of his second round, but he arrived at the first tee on Saturday despite the death of close friend Ballesteros, who he formed a formidable partnership with at the Ryder Cup.

"The best tribute we can pay to Seve is to go on playing for him, although no tribute will ever do justice to everything he did for golf and to everything he gave us," Olazabal said.

"What impressed most in Seve was his strength, his fighting spirit and the passion he put into everything he did. I saw him for the last time the Saturday after The Masters. He was not well, but his head was clear. We talked about many things… so many common memories, and particularly about the Ryder Cup."

All the players at El Prat were asked to wear black ribbons, with Spanish flags at half-mast and a minute's silence observed at 2.45pm local time.

Olazabal was level-par at the turn, with two birdies and one double-bogey, before dropping four shots on the way in. On a traumatic day, his round did have a positive ending, as he birdied the 18th for the third successive day to leave him at three-over.

Colin Montgomerie, Olazabal's playing partner, posted a 73 to move to one-over while Miguel Angel Jimenez - like Olazabal visibly overcome by the day's news - could only manage a 76 to also sit three-over.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Thomas Aiken retained his place at the top of the leaderboard with a steady but unspectacular round of 72, keeping him at eight-under.

The South African will take a two-shot lead into the final round, although that didn't always look like being the case after his second shot into the par-five last found the roof of the hospitality tent. Fortunately, however, Aiken was permitted a free drop - the break he needed to close with a par.

Aiken has a two-shot lead over four players, including Anders Hansen, Romain Wattel, Scotland's Scott Jamieson and local boy Pablo Larrazabal - who had previously pledged to win the tournament for Ballesteros.

The English challenge is upheld by three players at three-under. Chris Wood, David Horsey and Seve Benson - named after the legendary Spaniard by his father - all made headway against par to give themselves at least a hope of contending for victory on Sunday.

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